Comparative transcriptome analysis reveals higher expression of stress and defense responsive genes in dwarf soybeans obtained from the crossing of G. max and G. soja

Abstract

Plant height is an important component of plant architecture and significantly affects crop breeding practices and yield. We obtained a few segregated dwarf soybeans in the populations derived from the crossing of Glycine max var. Peking and Glycine soja var. IT182936 in an F5 RIL population. These dwarf soybeans may be useful genetic resources for plant breeders, geneticists and biologists. We attempted to find differentially expressed genes to classify and understand the regulation of genes related to plant growth in mutant dwarf soybeans, which appeared in the F5 generation. Using the Illumina high-throughput platform, transcriptomes were generated and compared among normal and dwarf soybeans in triplicate. We found complex relationship of the expressed genes to plant growth. There are highly significantly up-/downregulated genes according to the comparison of gene expression in normal and dwarf soybeans. The genes related to disease and stress responses were found to be upregulated in dwarf soybeans. Such over-expression of disease resistance and other immune response genes was targeted to understand how the immune genes regulate the response of plant growth. In addition, photosynthesis-related genes showed very low expression in dwarf lines. The transcriptome expression and genes classified as related to plant growth may be useful resources to researchers studying plant growth.